Do you recognize these shoes?  

Posted by California Historical Society in , , ,


While surveying some unprocessed ephemera here at CHS, I came across this tag with tiny, detailed metal shoes tied on with a bit of wire (you can even see and feel the knobby soles).  We don’t have a date for the item (circa 1915-1930s, probably), nor do we know anything about the meaning of the text on the tag or why the shoes were attached.  Please let us know if you know!  Or even if you just have a good guess.  All comments welcome.

Wendy Welker
Special Collections Archivist

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 17, 2011 at Thursday, November 17, 2011 and is filed under , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

1 comments

J. Turowski  

Googling "May I put my shoes in your trunk?" and May I put your shoes in my trunk?" turns up several comic postcards from around 1910-1914 with variations of this phrase. I haven't seen any other information about it, but it sounds like a catchphrase that might have come from a popular song, advertisement, or vaudeville routine. Maybe this item was a party favor or gag gift.

8:23 AM

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